


Soda Pop

by thefantasmickah



Category: Glee
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-04-25
Updated: 2011-04-25
Packaged: 2017-10-24 01:59:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,496
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/257624
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thefantasmickah/pseuds/thefantasmickah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>At no point in her life had Santana ever imagined she would be in her kitchen, laughing and flirting with Tina Cohen-Chang.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soda Pop

**Author's Note:**

> Done for Round 2 of the fic exchange at **glee_rare_pairs** for **gilligankane**.

If she thinks about it she could probably pinpoint the instant when she became friends with the other girl. It was just something that happened, unexpected, because Santana Lopez doesn't do friends or feelings, not really. At least, she  _didn't_  do feelings. All of that changed after her realization and subsequent admission of her feelings for and to Brittany. That had been a disaster.

Tina finds her in the auditorium after the locker incident. She is too miserable to even care how she looks in that moment. It isn't like it matters. The younger girl sits next to her and Santana wonders, briefly, how she even knows the other girl's birthday. Tina doesn't say anything to her for long enough that she forgets that there is someone even sitting next to her. She jumps, literally, when the other girl finally speaks, "Artie," Tina pauses, seemingly searching for the proper way to form what she wants to say, "Is a dick."

Santana gapes at Tina, surprised at the words but also the fact that Tina even talked. She startles herself when she laughs loudly at what Tina said. In an instant she seems to realize that she shouldn't be laughing given what just happened to her in the hallway with Brittany and she silences her voice. She breathes deeply and tries to talk, "Like you know anything, Gothi—"

"For the record, I think Brittany is stupid," Tina interrupts. Santana bristles at the choice of words. "Foolish," Tina corrects, "To stay with Artie when she could have you. You, and others, may not see it, Santana," Tina touches Santana's shoulder as she stands to leave the auditorium, "But you're a catch." Tina gives her an encouraging smile as she passes through the doors and Santana frowns in reply.

* * *

It's been a week since her conversation, if you could call it that, with Tina when Santana sees the aforementioned girl sitting alone outside McKinley by the parking lot. She hesitates for a brief moment before going over and plopping herself down next to the other girl; she figures that she owes the girl, or something. The silence falls over them again, something that Santana thinks she could get used to. Silence is so much better than any amount of space filled with someone talking the amount that Berry did.

"I like Mike," Tina tells her softly. The look of confusion on Santana's face must cue Tina in that she needs to explain herself, because, duh, she's dating the guy, shouldn't she like him? "I do like Mike. And he's really nice and a fantastic dancer, and has great abs," she pauses and Santana begins to think that yeah, they have a lot in common. "But there is something about our relationship that isn't working out," Tina finishes, looking at Santana.

"Shit," Santana mutters, to both of their situations. Tina seems to hit the nail on the head there.

"Yeah."

They lapse into quiet again and watch the people passing them on the way to their cars. Santana doesn't even bother to try and give anyone glares when they throw weird looks their way, there isn't a reason to and she is beyond caring at this point. Santana finally shrugs and asks Tina if she would help her write an original song for Glee Club. Tina nods, eager for a distraction and Santana wonders when she stopped referring to the other girl by nicknames and gothic slurs.

* * *

Santana looks up from the poorly folded letter she had found in her locker as she sees a blur of black and blue pass by her in the hallway. It takes her a moment to register who it is before following behind them to the bathroom. She closes the door softly behind her before clicking the bolt into place. She watches the girl at the mirror, dabbing makeup streaks with a damp cloth. "You know," she smirks, "With your eye makeup like that, you kind of look like Mrs. Lovett." She sighs, crumpling the note and shoving it in her bag, "What happened?"

"God, Santana, can you just, not?" Tina snaps at her, eyes meeting through the mirror.

"Ookayyy," Santana shifts, feeling awkward for the first time. She moves to unlock the door and leave Tina alone.

"Fuck," Tina rubs her temple, "I'm sorry, Santana. I shouldn't have—I just—Stay, please. I'm kind of a dick too sometimes."

Santana laughs, various memories flit through her mind, "If you're a dick, what does that make me? Queen of the Dicks?" She thinks about that for a second before groaning in disgust at what she just said, making notice of the other girl who is doubled over in laughter. "Oh gross!"

"Oh my god!" Tina laughs loudly, the sound reverberating off the walls of the room, "You know what that makes you?"

Santana looks at Tina warily; she had gone from upset to hysterical in too short of a time span. "What?"

"Married to Artie, the King of the Dicks!"

"You  _so_  did not just say that!" Santana exclaims launching herself in the direction of the surprised girl who jumps back and flinches, expecting contact.

Tina looks up slowly as she realizes that she's not on the ground with a growling Santana pinning her there.  _Well, that was an interesting thought_ , she grins slightly before remembering where she is. "Whatcha gonna do about it?" She probably shouldn't be antagonizing the other girl, but she can't help having the upper hand on Santana. She's busy mentally patting herself on the back and forgets to keep an eye on the former Cheerio as a cold surprise of water hits her face.

She blinks dramatically as she lifts her head to meet eyes with Santana. Santana is trying and failing to keep a straight face as she looks upon Tina's dripping one. She snorts before she can stop herself. She grins as Tina turns on the tap closest to her and cups her hands under the flow of water. "Oh, you so do not want to do that," she threatens.

"Oh, really?" Tina looks at Santana through falsely innocent eyes, "I think I do!" She finishes as she flings her hands full with water at the other girl. The water drips off Santana's face and down her shirt, wetting the fabric as it pools uncomfortably. Tina's gaze follows the path the water took, eyes widening at the reaction the cold water creates. Santana, to her credit, doesn't bat an eye at her body's reaction to cold.

"You like what you see, Cohen-Chang?" Santana smirks widely at the rose colour that appears on the girl's cheeks. "Cohen-Chang? God, that's hard to say. No wonder it was easier to call you Gothika or something like that. I'll have to figure out what to call you."

"You could call me Tina?" She finally composes herself so she can respond, only to be thrown by Santana's next words.

"Nah, Morticia, too ordinary, and you're anything but," Santana winks.

The spell the girls were under seems to break as both notice a loud banging coming from the door. Santana rolls her eyes, fine with the interruption but becoming increasingly more annoyed as the pounding continues and a voice adds to the noise. "I demand that this door be unlocked at once! There are people who require the use of the facilities and you people are currently impeding that! I swear if there is any copulation or osculation going on in there, I iwill/i report you to Mrs. Pillsbury-Howell and you will reap the consequences of—" Rachel stops speaking abruptly as the door is yanked open causing her to tumble in.

"Will you just fucking shut up, Manhands?" Santana growls at the short girl trying to become decent after her tumble mixed with short skirt. "And wear some fucking clothes and maybe you wouldn't have that problem."

Rachel's attention is brought to the other occupant of the room as she tries to stifle a laugh. "Tina? What on earth are you doing in here?  _With Santana_?" She whispers the last part, as if Santana couldn't hear her.

Tina shakes her head and tries to regain her composure, "We were talking."

"With the door locked?" Rachel sounds scandalized. "Like I'm supposed to believe that! Look at the state of you!" Rachel finally notices the water on the ground and on the girls. "Ugh, you both have no restraint. And you both have boy friends! What would they think?"

Santana notices the look on Tina's face change rapidly and she prepares to do damage control, "Look, Berry," she spits at the short girl, "You don't know what you're talking about, so why don't you just go to the potty like a good little girl and go back to pining over a boy who will never be over his first love, 'kay?" Santana hazards a glance at Tina and sees the vacant expression on her face. She walks over to the girl and touches her arm, "Come on, Co-Chang. Let's go before the dwarfism catches." Santana grabs a hold of Tina's hand and her own bag and pulls her out of the bathroom. "Don't fall in, Berry! They haven't put in the children's toilet like you requested!"

Santana steers Tina through the hallway, ignoring the looks she gets from people who have never seen her touch anyone, aside from Brittany, outside of malice. She leads them to the choir room and asks Mr. Schue, who is in his office, if she and Tina can use the room to talk. He looks slightly flabbergasted at the request but sees Tina and tells them he'll lock them in.

He leaves the room to head back to his classroom, lock sliding into place behind him. He nods at Santana as their eyes meet; he is appreciative of whatever it is that she seems to be doing for the quiet girl.

Santana shows Tina to a chair and motions for her to sit as she sits in the one next to it. She waits a moment for Tina to get situated before she repeats her question from earlier, "What happened?"

Tina worries her lip before responding, "Mike broke up with me."

"Is that all?" Santana asks, concerned that there is more Tina is unwilling to tell her.

"Is that all? Is that all!" Tina's voice rises in timbre as she reacts to Santana's words. "Isn't that enough? My boyfriend of many months broke up with me!"

"Shit, Tina," Santana rubs her neck, she is really bad at this feeling crap, "Yeah, it is. But I thought you wanted to end things with him?"

Tina deflates at the words and Santana looks on, surprised and slightly worried. "Yeah, I did. But I still liked him, you know?"

"Right. Well, is there—" she pauses thinking about her words, "Is there anything I can do to help make you feel better?" She hopes this is the right thing to say because she is totally out of her element. Back when she was friends with Quinn and Britt she would just nod along as Quinn complained about whatever it was Finn had done and Brittany would respond. She just counted the swirls on Brittany's bedspread.

"Can you just listen?" Tina asks Santana, blushing slightly at the silliness of her request. Santana nods to the other girl to continue. "I was always surprised that it was me that Mike picked. I mean, we had the Asian thing, and his mother loved that. A little too much, if you ask me. He broke up with me so that I could be happy. Isn't that kind of messed up? He saw that I wasn't happy with him and I needed something else. He was such a great guy and I don't know what he saw in me. I always pictured him with someone like, well—" Tina stops for a moment, laughing lightly, "You, to be honest."

Santana couldn't contain herself and she starts to laugh, "Me with Chang? Oh that's a good one," she quiets slightly and puts on a serious face as she continues, "No, I'm too mean for someone that nice." She knows there is a double-edged sword to her words and it hurts slightly. Cringing, she finishes with, "Plus, he's not exactly my type."

"True," nods Tina. She ignores the look Santana gives her in favour of asking her a question about something she just remembers, "What did the paper say?"

"I—what? What paper?" Santana sputters, trying to catch up to Tina's train of thought.

"The one you crinkled and put in your bag when we were in the bathroom."

"Oh, it was nothing," Santana waves her hand, dismissing the subject.

Tina presses on, "I don't believe that."

"It was Sam breaking up with me, okay? In a letter. Like I said, it was nothing," Santana shrugs.

"Oh, Santana," Tina puts her hand on Santana's knee, "I'm sorry—"

"Don't be," Santana states firmly. "I'm not. I just wish he had had the balls to say it to my face. Mostly I guess I wish I had done it. Now he's the one who gets to say that he broke up with Santana Lopez, the bitch. But no big. Whatever, I guess."

Tina looks at Santana's face carefully before standing up and pulling the other girl with her. She wraps the other girl in a hug softly and murmurs useless phrases in her ear.

Santana pulls back from the hug slightly, "Why are we hugging?"

"Because I needed one and so did you. Now stop ruining the moment."

"I did not. And I am not," Santana scoffs.

"You did and you are. So shut up and let me hug you," Tina says firmly, pulling the other girl back into her arms.

Santana just sighs and wraps her arms around Tina, resting her head on Tina's shoulder, "Thanks," she whispers to her.

"You too."

* * *

Tina finds her sitting on a bench at the park a couple weeks later and Santana wonders what it is with them and benches. She's watching the swings move in the breeze as children run around. The noise should be comforting but her mind is moving too fast for her to find solace in the din. She looks up when Tina's shadow covers her, causing her to shiver briefly, "Hey."

"Hey, yourself," Tina sits next to her, legs folded under her body. "What's going on?"

"Just thinking."

"Okay." They lapse into silence again for a couple minutes before Tina breaks it, "Do you want some ice cream?"

"Uh," Santana thinks for a moment, remembering she isn't a Cheerio any more and replies, "Yeah, that sounds good actually."

"Okay, let's go then," Tina untangled her legs and stands, waiting for the girl to join her.

They walk slowly down the street commenting about nothing in particular, arms brushing occasionally as they walk side-by-side. Tina opens the door to the parlour for Santana, laughing at the look that appears on her face. "Just go in," she says as she pushes Santana inside. "Order whatever you want; I'm paying."

"Why?" Santana asks, ordering one chocolate scoop with rainbow sprinkles in a cup.

"Because," Tina looks at Santana, smiling gently, as she picks up her mint chocolate chip scoop in a cone and pays for their ice cream, "You looked like you needed it."

"Thanks," Santana blushes, unaccustomed to people being nice to her for no reason other than to be nice.

"Anytime," Tina replies as she walks to a small booth in the corner of the shop. "So," she waits for Santana to sit down, "Want to talk about it?"

Santana sighs, looking at her ice cream, "Not really. But I know I should." Tina is silent, looking at Santana. "I see her everywhere, Tee," she pushes the ice cream around with her spoon, the rainbow mixing in with the brown. She breaks down and takes a bite, relishing in the cool mixed with the warmth of her mouth. "Even ice cream reminds me of her." Tina looks at her, expectantly. "When we would get ice cream, deliberately disobeying Coach's orders, she used to tell me that I had to get sprinkles. Rainbow sprinkles, because it wasn't ice cream if it didn't have sprinkles." Santana shudders, "Stupid things like that."

Tina looks at her in surprise. Her hand reaches out and grabs Santana's, "It's not stupid to care, Santana," she squeezes gently, "It means you're human, even if it really fucking hurts. You helped teach me that." She moves to break contact with the other girl but Santana grabs her hand tightly.

"I love her," she chokes, meeting Tina's eyes. "I love her, and I don't know how to stop loving her. And I think I always will." There was a deep-seated apology in Santana's words, neither girl acknowledged it.

"I know. But soon enough you'll be able to move on and see that there are other people who would love to be with you. There is a world outside of Brittany, even though you can't really see it right now."

Santana's hand slacks and she pulls it back to her side of the table, blushing again. "How do you seem to have all the answers, Tina?" She sighs, trying to expel the bad inside and replace it with good.

"I don't talk a lot," Tina's eyes twinkle. "Okay, I don't talk a lot to other people. That means I notice things. You can learn a lot about a person by not saying anything."

"Oh yeah?" Santana is curious. "What did you learn about me?"

Tina laughs at the loaded question and then responds, "You shouldn't be so sad, Santana. It doesn't become you. You're such a fiery personality."

"Is that a race crack? If you're going to play into stereotypes, does that mean I can say you need to be more rice-like?" Santana decides to let Tina sidestep the question; she'll get her to answer her later.

"That doesn't even make sense!"

"What? You people eat a lot of rice," Santana smirks, falling back into banter easily. She had missed it.

"So by your logic, that means I can call you tamales," Tina's entire body laughs at Santana as she tries to stay upright.

"Hey, don't knock tamales until you've tried them. And believe me, my tamales are to die for. I had them made special and everything," Santana winks exaggeratedly at the blushing girl across from her. Yeah, she still had it.

Tina is still laughing at Santana when they leave the ice cream parlour. She pushes her into a pole as punishment for her aching abs. Santana just hip-checks her into an alley as revenge.

* * *

They're sitting on the couch in Tina's living room three days later with a plate of pita chips and hummus between them. Mrs. Co-Chang (as Santana has dubbed her) brings the plate to the girls with a smile on her face at Tee-Tee having friends before leaving them alone in the room as Tina shoos her out. Santana doubles over in laughter before Tina pushes her off the couch to get even, cheeks a bright pink.

"Tee-Tee?" Santana grasps at her sides from her position on the floor.

"Oh shut up,  _Tana Banana_!" Tina smirks in victory as Santana stops laughing at the use of her childhood nickname.

"I can't believe you brought that up! God I'm going to kill my mother for saying that in your presence."

"What's wrong, 'tana?  _Embarrassed_?" Tina's gaze is both challenging and playful.

"Never," Santana declares moving the plate onto the coffee table and sitting as close as possible to Tina as she can. "Just don't," she moves closer, poking Tina in the sternum, "Say it to anyone in public.  _Ever_." She moves even closer, her face almost touching Tina's.

"Done," Tina exhales, breath moving Santana's fringe.

"Good," Santana pulls back from Tina and stands up, "Water?"

Tina nods faintly as Santana smirks and walks past the couch in the direction of the kitchen.

She looks up again as Santana hands her a glass filled with ice water and sits back down on the couch, friendly space between them again. Santana reaches over and grabs a pita chip and takes a bite before speaking again, "I like girls," she states frankly.

Tina coughs on her water before responding, "Yeah, I had kind of gathered that. You know, with the whole being in love with a girl thing," she grins at the incredulous look on Santana's face.

"Shut up," Santana shoves her lightly, water slopping over the sides of her full glass and landing on her shirt, they laugh at the memory. "I mean, I  _only_ like girls."

"Cool," Tina shrugs. "If it makes you feel any less alone or something, I like girls too. Well, and guys."

"Yeah, I figured that out a while ago."

"You did? How?" Tina is interested, maybe Santana was more observant than she gave her credit for.

"You're always staring at my assets," Santana grins slyly, eyebrows waggling wildly in a move she's almost certain she stole from Puck.

Tina decides to bite, "Of which you have many."

"Damn right I do."

* * *

Eight days later finds Tina letting herself into Santana's house and walking silently up the stairs to Santana's bedroom. She knocks lightly and waits for a mumbled response before entering. Her eyes adjust to the dim light in the dark room and she makes out the shape of Santana buried underneath her covers with her face pressed down into the pillow. She sighs sadly before taking her shoes off and lifting the covers, sliding under them and wrapping her arms around the other girl.

Santana groans at the intrusion but turns and buries her head into the space between Tina's shoulder and neck and breathes in with a shaky breath. She breathes into the silence before speaking into Tina's neck, "She broke up with him."

"I know," Tina's hand moves in circles on Santana's back.

Santana presses in deeper and breathes again, centering herself, "She came to me and asked if she could still be mine." Tina's breath hitches as she tenses. "I told her no." Tina relaxes slightly but wraps her arms even tighter around Santana when she feels tears wet her shoulder. "I said that I didn't love her that way anymore." More tears. "And I meant it." Santana shudders deeply as a fresh wave of tears erupts.

Tina pulls back from Santana gently, arms unwrapping from around her. Her hands move to Santana's face, thumbs gently wiping the tears away. She pauses there, Santana's face held in her hands delicately as she speaks softly, directly into Santana's eyes, "Hey. You're okay," a thumb strokes against damp cheek, "Do you hear me? You're okay. It's okay."

Santana nods slightly. "Okay," she hiccups. Her eyes search Tina's deeply, looking for something.

Tina smiles at the wreck of a girl next to her, the corners of her eyes crinkling. She leans up and presses a kiss to Santana's forehead and repeats her words against the skin, "You're okay." She envelops the girl in another hug, still speaking the words, this time Santana believes her.

* * *

It's a week later when Tina receives a call from a swearing Santana asking her if she would come over and help her move food to coolers from her broken, utterly useless, piece of shit fridge. Tina shows up wearing ridiculous yellow rubber gloves and a frilly apron. "Don't even ask," she mutters, glaring at the look of glee on Santana's face. "My mother forced them on me as I was leaving the house."

"Wasn't going to," Santana holds up her hands in her defense. "Hey," her eyes glint wickedly, "Can I have one of those gloves?"

Tina looks at her sharply, "What are you going to do with it?" She takes the glove off before carefully handing it to Santana.

"Nothing, nothing," she grins as she directs Tina to the kitchen where there are already three large coolers sitting on the floor. "Can you start with the condiments? I already put the ice packs in the coolers just before you got here." She waits for Tina to start rummaging in the fridge before she attacks, holding on tight to the end of the rubber glove, pulling the fingers back and letting them loose on the unsuspecting girl's backside. The yelp Tina releases is worth the revenge the girl is sure to wreak on her as soon as she's not looking.

"Why you little bitch!" Tina exclaims, pushing Santana into the counter across from the fridge. Her entire body is flush with Santana's. Tina's voice whispers hotly in her ear, "I'll get you back for this."

Santana gulps, heat rising quickly. "Well then we should get working," she stutters before clearing her throat to calm herself. "Condiments? I'll help you this time."

"That's what I thought," Tina backs away from the other girl, watching as her chest rises and falls as she tries to regain control. She grabs some items from the fridge and moves to the coolers.

Santana helps her put the items from the door into the cooler before she opens the freezer attached to the top of the fridge. Santana looks down, across the bridge of her nose where she can see Tina, crouched beside the large blue cooler. There is something about the image that is appealing, maybe it's the way the blue streaks in the girl's hair match perfectly with the cooler, maybe it's the way her shirt has ridden up and Santana can see the dimples on her lower back. Maybe, just maybe, it's the way Tina looks back at her, face in a grin, laughing at some joke Santana just made about thawing hotdogs and the way the light catches her brown eyes, so different -in a good way- from the blue that Santana can remember.

Santana smiles, and really, she finds herself doing that more often than not in the presence of the girl. Tina catches the smile and sends her one back, it's nearly blinding. Tina stands and cracks her back, tired from being bent over so long, Santana's breath stops for a moment as she holds out the cold soda for Tina to take.

"Thanks," Tina says softly. And suddenly Tina's standing just close enough for the thought to pass from Santana's mind to Tina's, or maybe it's the other way around, and they close the distance between them and finally kiss in response to the feelings they've been dancing around for weeks. When they pull back Tina asks, "Did you ever hear what my audition song was for New Directions?" She laughs breathily, aware that Santana is still very close to her.

Santana's interest is peaked, "Not that I can remember. What was it?"

Tina blushes, "It was "I Kissed a Girl". And until that moment right there, I hadn't ever kissed a girl before."

"Yeah?" Santana beams proudly. "And did you like it?" She is testing Tina because she knows how  _she_  feels about the kiss, but she wants to check where Tina is.

Tina blushes and since when has blushing and being around Santana been synonymous? "Yes," she mumbles before pulling Santana closer and kissing her deeply. They kiss for a while before Tina remembers the soda still in her left hand, her left arm having wrapped itself around Santana's waist earlier. She slides her right hand from Santana's cheek to her lower back and pushes her shirt up slightly. She smirks as Santana's breath hitches. She almost forgets her plan as Santana's tongue probes hers, she groans deeply, both at the feeling and that she was about to ruin it. She presses harder against Santana and slides the iced can dripping with condensation across Santana's back.

She laughs loudly as Santana jumps and pushes her against the fridge in the process. "What the fuck!" Santana curses, sputtering at the other girl currently on the ground laughing. "What was that for?"

"I told you I'd get you back," Tina wiped at the tears falling from her eyes. "And I so did."

"You realize," Santana gets on the ground next to the other girl, "Tee," she hovers over Tina and pins her to the ground, moving her face close to the girl's, "That this means war."

"Bring. It." Tina smirks as she pulls Santana on top of her.

Santana grins at the girl underneath her, a flush rising to both of their faces, she leans down and sucks Tina's lower lip into her mouth, biting it gently before kissing her fully. "I so," she kisses her deeply, "Intend to."

* * *

Later, Santana can see how Tina is exactly what she needs. Their relationship is still relatively new, though not by Glee Club standards, and there is something in the way that Tina looks at her and smiles at her that makes her heart soar a little bit. She knows it sounds totally cheesy and she should care what that says about her but, frankly, at this point she just wants to be settled and normal, for a change.

It could be how the nerves start to get to her at Nationals, and she shouldn't even have this problem, she's performed with Sue Sylvester yelling at her, and all it takes is a small hand in hers to calm her down. Or maybe it's how Tina winks at her right before stepping out into the spotlight, claiming the space that she deserves because she is just so fucking  _talented_  and Santana is so glad that people realized Tina is so much more than the Goth Asian that she used to make fun of.

Perhaps it's in the searing kiss that Santana plants on Tina's lips when they find out the results. The results on a stage in New York in front of far more people than she thought she would feel comfortable being herself around. In that moment she doesn't care. It's her and her girl and Tina is all that she can see.

Her time with Sue taught her multiple things though and that causes her to check her surroundings. She catches the soft blue eyes of Brittany, downcast slightly at the open affection she is showing for Tina. She jumps as she feels and hears Tina's warm breath on her ear, "It's okay to want to be friends with her, San," she melts into the kiss Tina places beneath her ear.

"But I'm happy with you," Santana states, glaring slightly at the arm Mike has around Brittany. Her glare lessens when she sees the smile Mike sends her, almost like he always knew Tina liked her and he approves.

"I know you are," they're pressed against each other, as close as they can be as they pose for a picture. "But she used to be your best friend and I know you miss her. Go say something to her. I'll be here when you get back."

Santana glances toward Brittany and Mike before turning and kissing Tina again and heading in their direction. She hugs Mike first, telling him how amazing his dancing was in the last number. She finally turns her attention to the blonde next to her. She looks at her for a moment before enveloping her in a soft hug. "You did great," she whispers. "You always do great."

The blonde beams and launches herself at Santana. The brunette catches her out of reflex. "Thanks, San," Brittany is speaking faster than Santana has ever heard her, but the way she says her nickname is different somehow, like it has a different emotion behind it. "I missed you," Brittany is very serious now and Santana can see just how much this year has changed them.

"I missed you too, Britt. But we have to go now, Mr. Schue is telling us to get off the stage," Santana reaches down and squeezes Brittany's hand before releasing it, smiling at both of the dancers and heading back to Tina who is looking at her with what can only be described as fondness. Their hands tangle together as Santana reaches her and pulls both of them off the stage. "Thanks," she says softly, meaning the word more than ever.

"I just want you to be happy," Tina shrugs. "Everyone needs a friend besides their significant other. Yours just happens to be someone you used to have sex with."

"You know," Santana thinks for a moment before replying, a playful glint in her eyes, "I'm sure Brittany wouldn't be opposed to a threesome if you're ever game. She did say she thought you'd be good in bed."

Tina blushes furiously, "Right now, the only one I want to have sex with, is you."

"Hey," Santana smirks at Tina, glancing the girl up and down, "I have a hotel room if you want to," she pauses and makes a crude gesture with her fingers, " _Celebrate_."

Tina just laughs at her and presses herself against Santana firmly, "I'd love to."


End file.
